Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-09-01
STORAGE OF FODDER.
Growing Importance q Saving Feed q
Stock In Soasons n Plenty.

A scarcity OF food for dOmeStlcated
animals is much more likely to occur
at the present time than q famine Of
scarcity Of TODD for human beings.
Famines that once resulted in causing
the starvation of millions of human be-
ings are never likely to occur again. or
at least they are not likely to occur IN
civilized countries. A sufficient
amount of food is produced almost
every year in some par. of the world to
supply all the inhabitants Of every por-
ton of it The news of the failure of
crops in any country spreads all over
the world long before famine occurs,
and provisions are made for obtaining
supplies. By means of steamships and
railroads grains and meats can be
transported and distributed very rap
idly. There are now organized char
tiles in nearly every country that are
conducted on business principles. The
wealth OF nations, associations and in
dividuals is at the disposal of famine
stricken communities. Differences Of
race. religion or form of civilization
disappear when the report is circulated
that people are suffering for want Of
sufficient and suitable food.
During the past forty years such an
advance has been made in methods of
storing grain, in preserving fruits and
canning meat and fish as to render .
famine almost impossible. Fruits. fish
and fresh meats can be kept for twenty
years in Theoretically sealed packages.
and can be exposed to the changes Of
climate without liability to injury. A
sufficient amount of beef and mutton
could be canned in Australia or in
some of the countries in South America
in months time to supply the inhab-
itants of an empire with meat for a
year. Alaska, Newfoundland or Nor
way could supply fish preserved in the
same way. California, Cuba and Gen.
trail America are able to supply the
world with fresh fruits preserved in
air-tight packages. BY the new meth
DDS OF. drying grains all the cereals
can be kept for many years and stored
in fire and moisture-proof warehouses
at a nominal cost. Chemical knowledge
has enabled us to keep in fresh state
nearly all the articles of food that a
few years ago were classed as perisha-
BILE and the great bulk of which was Or
dinarily wasted.
Apparently the danger of scarcity
of food for dOmesticated animals be-
comes greater as that of food for hui
man beings becomes less. Stock-rais-
ing has become the leading pursuit of
a large proportion of the persons who
own and occupy land. Most of them
aim to keep as many horses, cattle,
sheep and pigs on their places as they
think they can supply with food. In
case of drought they sell off animals
SO as to have fodder enough to Ego
round" They generally find it inn
practicable to purchase food to feed to a
large number of animals. Ordinarily,
it would not be economical to do so,
as the food would cost more than the
animals would sell for after they had
it. Hay, straw and other kinds of fod-
der are too bulky to transport long
distances at any thing like moderate
cost 1t is generally cheaper to take
farm animals to places where there are
large supplies of food-if such places
can be found-than to bring the food
to them. The difficulty in doing either
of these things is the lack of money in
the hands of farmers and stock-owners
during seasons of severe drought.
The small crop of grass and other
forage plants this season will doubtless
have the effect of calling the attention
of farmers to the necessity of storing
fodder for stock during years of
plenty to have ready for use during
years of scarcity. Without doubt a
million farm animals will be disposed
of or kept at loss to their owners in
the Northwestern States and Territor-
les this season on account of lack of
sufficient food to feed them during next
winter. A little foresight on the part
of the owners of these animals would
have prevented this loss. During
years of plenty they did not follow the
example set by Joseph in Egypt. They |
did not store up food against the COM
ing years of famine. They burned the |
straw produced in their grain-fields or
allowed it to rot in heaps. They suf-
fered their cornstalks to remain where |
they grew or plowed them under for
manure. They burned many acres of
good prairie grass in order to make the
pasturage better or to prevent the
spread of fires at times when they
would be likely to destroy crops or
farm buildings. Apparently they had
mo thought" of years when there
would be little rain to produce fodder
for stock.
1t is a very easy matter to preserve
hay made from clover and tame
grasses if farmer has sufficient barn
room. 1t can be kept for five or even
ten years without having its quality
greatly injured. The hay made of
slough grass or the wild grass of the
prairie can be kept for years with very